Other than superficial UI bullshit, does Windows 10 have any features? Was there any kernel development? If so, what was produced?

Yes, they've now added an "Ex" suffix to every system call. You now have to specify an average of 17 flag constants each with a name that averages of 30 upper-case characters, as well as initialize and provide "long pointers" to an average of five large C structures for each request you make to the OS.

Hmmm, $10,000 so I can get to 60 mph.4 seconds faster than before. Unless I'm street racing or having a douche-driver-day, I'm not sure i see the value when it's acceleration is already way past anything else available.

The Bugatti Veyron Super Sport supposedly does 0-100km/h (62mph) in 2.2 seconds. So you can get substantially faster acceleration than this Tesla, for a premium of a couple of $million. (I guess that makes this battery pack look like a bargain.)

As another thought experiment, imagine that there was a horse with the following properties:- Pink in color- Of appealing physical proportions- Has a single long, straight horn projecting from its forehead.- Possesses the ability to fly.

It would undoubtedly have significant value to collectors, and I would certainly want one.

Desalinization costs around $2000 per acre-foot. Beef production uses around 1800 gallons per pound. Feeding cows from California-grown crops would therefore tack more than $11 per pound onto the price of beef. Almonds use a similar amount of water per pound as beef, so would face a similar markup.

Rice needs 300 gal/pound, which would add $1.84 per pound to its price. Maybe Israelis pay these kinds of prices for their food. However, that's simply not realistic for this country. We'd shift to imports or food grown in other states before paying for staple crops grown with desalinized water.

Because in the real world, it's NOT simple to move water around at all. Moving water around has involved some of the most expensive undertakings this country has ever attempted, and has been responsible for massive environmental damage and the disruption of the livelihoods of countless people.

Moreover, the water has to come from somewhere. If you hadn't noticed, the entire western US has almost no extra water. Precipitation is simply not refilling the original sources of Western water supplies. Maybe you think it's cheap and easy to pipe it over the continental divide, after somehow wresting water rights from people in the East. If so, you're an ignoramus.

And desalinization is totally unrealistic to address anything but urban water use, which is a drop in the bucket.

I don't know why you're surprised by "weird nastiness" over water rights. Civilizations all over the world have been highly protective of their water rights for millennia, and many wars have been fought over water. Fresh water is probably the single most important resource on the planet, and nobody is going to give up their water without a fight, even if they're not using all of it at this exact moment. There is simply not going to be any Kumbaya solution to these issues.